


Seeing Lex

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, M/M, hurt-comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-28
Updated: 2007-07-28
Packaged: 2017-11-01 09:32:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/355027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark/Lex preslash. Jonathan finally sees past the Luthor name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeing Lex

## Seeing Lex

by Magdelena

<http://www.magdelena.net>

* * *

_Summary_ : Jonathan finally sees past the Luthor name. 

_Disclaimer_ : I do not own any of the characters herein (only the plot). The characters of Clark Kent, Superman and Lex Luthor are the property of their creators and DC Comics. Smallville is owned by Gough/Millar Inc and the WB Network TV. I am publishing my fanfiction writings only for my own selfish desire to be a part of their world and receive nothing in return. 

_Author's Note_ : Thanks to Sev1970 for betaing for me. Written for atalante3134 who requested a Clex-ish Smallville drabble (which became a ficlet) with a support or acceptance scene between Jonathan and Lex (when Lex is not evil). 

* * *

Jonathan tuned out somewhere right in the middle of Martha listing the items they needed to pick up while in town, his sharp hearing picking up something that just wasn't right. He laid a hand on her arm, quieting her as he tried to hone in on the sounds of distress. A moment later he was jogging down the alley behind Fordman's, Martha following so closely behind that when he stopped abruptly, so startled by what he was seeing, Martha quite literally slammed into his back. 

Jonathan had never been a fan of Lex Luthor. In fact, since the moment the young man had crashed into their lives, he was more than certain that Lex was only going to mean trouble for his family. Even moments after a near-fatal crash the young Luthor had been suave and composed, every bit a Luthor. 

Today though, looking down at the bruised and battered boy before him, all Jonathan saw was his son's best friend. 

"Lex, son, are you all right?" Jonathan asked, kneeling before the young man and automatically checking Lex's injuries. Turning towards his wife, Jonathan nodded towards her purse. "Call the sheriff, honey. Tell them..." 

"No," Lex rasped. "No police." 

"But Lex," Martha argued, "It's obvious that..." 

Lex smirked ruefully, wincing as he moved into a sitting position against the brick wall behind him with Jonathan's assistance. "The only thing that's obvious is that you haven't read the _Inquisitor_ this morning, or you'd probably be finishing the job." 

Jonathan didn't reply to Lex's softly spoken words, concentrating instead on the resigned tone, laced with self-loathing. Once he did, it was easy to see what a faade the stoic Luthor mask was that the young man was already donning. "Parts of my supposedly-sealed juvenile record have been leaked to the press," Lex continued when it was obvious Jonathan wasn't going to rise to the bait. "They detail a rather illustrious time in my youth when I was, shall we say, quite experimental in my choice of sexual partners. The article goes on to further speculate that I've now graduated to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and statutory rape." 

Martha gasped audibly and Jonathan's gaze narrowed. It didn't take much to reason out that Clark's recent weekend excursion to Metropolis with Lex in celebration of his seventeenth birthday had been the catalyst for this latest round of negative press. In the past, Jonathan would have been quick to anger and throw out any number of his own accusations. Hell, Lex was right. Under other circumstances, Jonathan likely would have been the one to throw the first punch. Instead, his fists tightened in a different kind of anger. 

Seeing Lex sitting there - lower lip split open, blood seeping from there as well as from cuts on his cheek and above his eye, his eye already starting to swell shut, his own knuckles bruised from his obvious efforts to defend himself against his attackers - Jonathan could only think of how very young this man truly was. He sighed with the realization that before now Lex the person had never mattered to him. Clark's accusations that Jonathan had judged his friend simply on the 'Luthor' name had never rang truer in his head. 

"Who did this to you, Lex?" Martha asked gently as she pressed her handkerchief to the worst of the still-oozing cuts on his temple. 

Lex grimaced at the pressure, but shot Martha a grateful nod as he lifted his own hand to grasp the handkerchief himself. "It doesn't matter, it..." 

"Like hell it doesn't. It matters. _You_ matter," Jonathan stated, the vehemence of his statement surprising even him. 

"Mister and Mrs. Kent, in case I haven't made myself clear enough..." 

"We get it, Lex," Martha said exchanging a knowing glance with Jonathan. 

"I'm guessing the article probably speculated on the exact nature of your relationship with Clark, and if I'm guessing correctly, insinuated that the two of you have been much more than friends for quite a while now," Jonathan admitted calmly. 

"And the reason you're not trying to kill me right now would be?" 

"Because I trust Clark, and he trusts you." Jonathan couldn't help but smile just a bit at the look of awe that passed over Lex's features for a brief minute, and his heart ached in the face of the evidence that this young man had never known that level of parental trust. Somehow, that realization managed to soften his tone even further. "So, I'm going to repeat this question again. Who did this to you?" 

"It's just going to create more problems," Lex answered, his voice more unsure than Jonathan had ever heard it. With some difficulty, he scrambled to his feet, flinching as he moved the handkerchief away from his temple. "Please leave it alone, Mister Kent. I'm begging you. My father is already going to be having enough of a fit about this. Just the implication of this kind of impropriety is enough to drive LuthorCorp stock down..." 

"Doesn't anybody just care about you, Lex?" Jonathan interrupted. 

"Clark does," Lex answered almost immediately, "which is why I would never touch him. Thanks, Mister and Mrs. Kent. I'll be fine from here, I promise." 

Jonathan watched Lex walk off towards his car, the remaining vestiges of his pre-conceived notions about Lex Luthor disappearing with each step the younger man took. When he looked at Martha, he could see that his feelings were reflected in her face. "Count two more Kents in that number, Lex." 

* * *

Clark looked up as his father entered the loft. 

"Hey, Dad," he said. "What's up?" 

"Clark, I think you should see this." Jonathan handed a copy of the _Inquisitor_ to Clark. 

"It's not true. Lex would never. I mean, we haven't... I didn't even know for sure that Lex was..." 

"It's okay, Clark. I think you should know though that someone in town beat Lex up pretty badly." 

"Because of this? Because of me?" Clark sat down heavily on the sofa in the loft. "Nobody ever gives Lex a chance. Lex has done so much for the people of this town and none of them will think of him as anything different than his father. Just because Lionel has no limits doesn't mean Lex has none." 

"Some of us are starting to get it, Clark." Jonathan heard the sound of a car approaching and looked out of the loft window. "Damn. We have company." 

"Is that a news van?" 

"Stay up here, Clark. Let your mother and I handle this." 

"I should..." 

Jonathan was already towards the steps when Clark spoke. He turned on his heel and met Clark's worried gaze with a determined one of his own. 

"Do you trust me, Clark?" 

"Of course I do." 

"Then trust me in this. Call Lex on that cell phone he gave you and tell him to tune in to channel three. I'm not going to let you or Lex down, okay?" 

* * *

"What do you mean your parents are about to be interviewed by the channel three news team?" 

"They're down there right now with their camera turned on my dad. Turn the TV on right now." 

Lex was already pressing the power button on the television remote. 

* * *

"What I'm saying is that Lex Luthor is my son's best friend. He has been since he crashed into our lives two and a half years ago. You're implying that Lex is some sort of pedophile. I'm assuring you that he isn't. Has he given Clark advice on wooing young women that most fathers would cringe at? Probably." Jonathan paused and chuckled wryly before his expression sobered again. "Has he showered Clark with gifts and favors? Absolutely. Hell, Lex has done that for all of us here in Smallville. Ask anybody. The Luthor name has left a bitter taste in the mouth of most of the residents of Smallville for years. Lex has been trying the whole time he has been here to change that. He even offered himself in exchange for our children when Earl Jenkins took over the plant a couple of years ago." 

Jonathan paused again, this time squeezing Martha's shoulder tenderly as they offered each other warm smiles. He was keenly aware that Clark had slipped down from his hiding place in his Fortress to listen, and he knew that a great deal hinged on his next words. 

"So instead, let me answer the real question you'd like answered. Did Lex ever use the cover of friendship to try to seduce my son to his bed? Absolutely not. Clark was not even quite fifteen when Lex arrived in town. My son was at a very young and impressionable age, and my wife and I had heard the rumors about Lex. We kept a close watch on Lex's involvement in Clark's life. We never even had a glimmer of suspicion that Lex tried anything inappropriate with Clark. Now, is Lex currently interested in my son sexually, or is my son interested in Lex sexually?" Jonathan fixed his gaze straight into the camera lens, hoping that Lex was listening on the live television feed as well. "I have no idea. And it is, quite frankly, none of my business. Clark is seventeen. He's legally old enough to make his own decisions about who he chooses to sleep with, and unless I'm wrong, since 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court assured that we have no right to peek inside either of their bedrooms and care what they're up to." 

"So you're saying that you approve of a relationship between your son and a much older man?" 

Jonathan shook his head and sighed visibly, finally turning from the camera to answer the reporter directly. "I see I'm not the only one who sometimes forgets that Lex is barely older than a boy himself. It's easy to see Lex Luthor as the businessman with the misspent youth. After all, he shows up at Smallville High in the afternoons sometimes to pick up Clark in his expensive clothes and cars. But what you don't get to see is the young man who likes fighting with my son over a video game controller, a young man who I swear must have cameras up somewhere in our kitchen because he seems to instinctively know when my wife is making peach cobbler. Clark is seventeen, and Lex is twenty-three. They are both intelligent, mature young men who are more than capable of making the right decisions about their relationship. I approve of their friendship. And I trust them to let us know if or when that develops into something more." 

"Mrs. Kent, do you have anything to add?" 

Martha shrugged. "I think my husband spoke quite well for both of us, so I guess the only thing I'd have to add is that you'll have to get that van moved pretty soon." 

"Ma'am?" 

"You're parked in Lex's spot, and it smells like my cobbler is about to come out of the oven. I'd expect he should be along in a few minutes." 

* * *

Lex blinked at the screen watching as Jonathan refused any further questions and the Kents stepped away from the microphones. Martha and he both waved to the camera crew before walking hand-in-hand back into the farmhouse. 

"Lex?" 

Lex had almost forgotten that Clark was still on the phone. 

"I should have known they'd come after you because of our friendship. I'm sorry you got dragged into all of this, Clark," Lex apologized, his finger already reaching to disconnect the phone when he heard Clark whisper his name again. 

"Lex?" 

"Yeah, Clark?" 

"Come over for dinner, okay?" 

Lex sighed. "I suppose I should. I want to make sure to back up what your parents told the press after all." 

"Not because of that, Lex. Because we want you here, okay? Because I want you here." 

"Everything they wrote about my past in that article is true, Clark." 

"Okay." 

"Is that all you have to say about it?" Lex asked after he choked out a strangled laugh. 

"Well, yeah. We've only been friends for a couple of years now, and I know I still have secrets left to tell you, so it's only understandable you should have some secrets too. It's not like knowing you're bisexual has to change anything between us," Clark paused, "unless we want it to. Of course, I may never be able to watch you fondle a bottle of water in quite the same way," he added wryly. 

For the first time that day, a smile spread across Lex's face, and he laughed genuinely. "I'll be there in five minutes." 

**_THE END_**


End file.
